Such an arrangement is disclosed in German patent specification DE 195 46 330 C1. This document describes a differential gear with differential bevel gears for driving the axle shafts of a motor vehicle, whereby the ring gear is supported on the differential cage or differential housing in order to drive the differential gear. In this configuration, the ring gear has to have a diameter that corresponds to that of the differential housing. This has the drawback that the ring gear entails a costly configuration with gear teeth whose size matches this large diameter, and the ring gear also has to be designed so that it can withstand the high loads that are encountered. Moreover, such a support is not possible with a planetary gear element since in this case, a differential cage as such is not present.